tor, great retail relationships and a historyof delivering products at price points thatwere fantastic.”SWaN’s recognized success in itsinvestment strategies — the companymanages about $400 million in assetswith investments in businesses includingPinterest, Kind fruit-and-nut bars, hot TVproduction house Anonymous Content,and four Washington, D.C.-based profes-sional sports franchises — was also a boonfor illuMask, which launched at retail oneyear ago with the helpof a $300,000 Facebookcampaign.

“The campaign was
in conjunction with
Walmart and Facebook,

and it took illuMask to the No. 1 spot in
its category for the retailer,” Tapper says.
“But when we analyzed the data from the
campaign, that’s when we realized how
valuable a direct response campaign could
become.”

J&J Turns on the Lights

Tapper took the results to an old friend
— Schnabel, whose success in the DR
fitness space is legendary. “He asked me,
‘Do you realize how good this data is?’ and

I responded, ‘Why do you think Iam showing you?’” Tapper says.In May 2014, Tapper and histeam decided to move to directresponse marketing to buildawareness for illuMask. “It wasn’trealistic to have the No. 1 beautyand acne item consistently with-out spending money,” he says.“We hired R2C Group as a trueone-stop shop — from creative toCOVER

STORY

illuMask received early notice from
product reviewers about its unique look.

But the campaign for the product focuses
more on the stunning results provided by
the device.